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In January 2019, Mastic and Shirley residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of a referendum to create a sewer district to serve the hamlets.
Three years later, work was underway on the Forge River Wastewater Treatment Plant, marking the initial phases of a gargantuan project, one expected to bring major economic development and environmental improvements to the region.
And on Monday, officials and civic leaders gathered to mark the plant’s christening at 25 Sunrise Service Road North, with 10 residential properties already hooked up last week.
It’s also the first sewage treatment plant to be built in Suffolk County in decades, officials said.
“All of this turned out to be about $228 million, so if anyone thinks that sewers are not expensive, they are,” said County Executive Ed Romaine, also noting that the Forge River is among the more degraded waterways on Long Island.
The sewer initiative actually dates back to Hurricane Sandy’s aquatic assault on Long Island in 2012, and the one-time FEMA money that followed.
That money, with the state’s involvement and work on the county level, gave way to the Forge River project.
“Today’s a great day. It’s a great day for the Forge River and its surrounding waterways,” added county Legislator James Mazzarella, who represents the area.
“And we stand here on the grounds at this state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant, a facility that’s going to treat wastewater from about 2,000 homes and about 250 businesses,” he continued. “Not only protecting our groundwater, but promoting economic growth to those business on our main corridor in the Mastic-Shirley area on Montauk Highway.”
According to the county’s Department of Public Works commissioner, Charles Bartha, the plant is designed to handle one million gallons a day, but the county is already in the design phase to increase that load by another 450,000 gallons per day.
He said the tertiary treatment is then discharged back into the groundwater through leaching pools.
“519 of them [leaching pools], all below ground,” he explained. “So it has zero impact in the community.”
He also called the plant’s opening “a tribute to the community.”
Romaine said the current phases will help service “half of the Mastic community.”
The plant’s service area is along the western banks of Forge River, straddling the Long Island Rail Road train tracks. The next step is to push for phases three and four, which will encompass a larger area south, to the tip of the peninsula.
There are also sewer projects underway, in various stages, in Kings Park and Smithtown, South Huntington, Holbrook, and Oakdale.
Top photo: The Forge River Boat Club dock in Mastic. (Credit: Nick Esposito) Inset: Legislator James Mazzarella
